Pharma giant to create 200 highly skilled jobs

Pharmaceutical giant Lilly is to create 200 highly skilled jobs by investing €330m in the construction of a new hi-tech manufacturing plant on its Co Cork campus.

The IDA-supported investment, announced by Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton yesterday, will create 300 construction jobs during the three-year building project at the company’s 150-acre base at Dunderrow, near Kinsale.

Recruitment will start within weeks and the building should be ready to begin manufacturing by 2016.

The 240,000sq ft commercialisation and manufacturing facility will expand the site’s existing biopharmaceutical capacity, helping the firm to bring new treatments for illnesses, such as cancer and diabetes, to patients around the world.

Mr Bruton said the Government’s recently published action plan for jobs outlined a range of measures it plans to take this year to target the high-end manufacturing and health/life sciences sectors.

“This announcement, that this world-leading company is making a substantial investment in expanding its facility in Kinsale with the creation of up to 200 permanent jobs, shows what is possible in these areas,” he said.

This is the second large investment Lilly has made at its Kinsale site in recent years. In 2006, the company announced a €300m investment in its first biopharmaceutical manufacturing and new-product commercialisation facility, which came on stream in 2010.

The general manager of Lilly’s Kinsale site Ed Canary said the latest investment was an endorsement of the site’s success in developing a biopharmaceutical business in recent years.

“In the past five years, we have hired and trained some highly talented people and now have a technical talent base and capability is biopharmaceutical commercialisation and manufacturing that makes us a very attractive company for highly skilled people,” he said.

Lilly’s president of global manufacturing operations Maria Crowe also praised the links between the Government, industry, and academia, which she said had been commented upon favourably at a recent Lilly board meeting.

IDA boss Barry O’Leary described the investment as a “great success story” for the Kinsale site, and an excellent addition for the South-west region.

“This investment demonstrates Lilly’s enduring commitment to Ireland and further evidence that Ireland continues to position itself as a leading location of choice for the commercialisation and manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals,” he said.

There was a broad welcome for the jobs boost.

Cork Chamber president John Mullins paid tribute to Lilly’s Kinsale-based management and staff and said: “This major investment decision confirms Cork’s place as a global centre for biopharma investment and will provide an additional boost to both the local and national economy.”

Lilly, which is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been in Ireland for over 30 years and employs 700 people at its four sites: Kinsale, Cork City, Sligo, and Dublin.

The Kinsale site, set up in 1981, was Lilly’s first manufacturing plant in this country.

It makes the active ingredients for a number of Lilly’s most important medicines including Alimta, which is used in the treatment of small cell lung cancer, Evista, used in the treatment of osteoporosis, Strattera, which is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Zyprexa, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The products from Kinsale are shipped to finishing plants around the world where they are converted to final dosage forms such as tablets, capsules or injectibles.

* For recruitment queries, contact: [e-mail]